Last night I got an email from my old friend. It was a question about Japanese translation of English. I gave my answer to him, becoming reminiscent of my old days...

I majored in linguistics in university. I studied syntax of English and learned the theory of Transformational-Generative Grammar, which was suggested by a famous linguist, Noam Chomsky ( although he brought about an innovation to the linguistic academy, he's rather committed to political activity now)

Below is an excerpt from my notes to answer his question. If you're interested, click "変形生成文法によると," but please be noted that 8 years have passed since I graduated from university. My memory is fading. There might be some inaccurate description.

TOEIC score: 990, 得了满分！

It was just before noon. I was working in the office. Got a call from the personnel dept. Since I’m currently transferred to a different workplace, I sometimes receive notices directly from the personnel dept now.

I thought today’s call is one of those occasional notices about something.
But today he said “Hi, nn. The result of TOEIC has arrived here now.”
“Yes,” said I, being a little bit puzzled, because I’ve never got a call from the personnel dept just because they’ve got the result of the exam I sat for.
“You’ve got a perfect score. I’m gonna mail you the result report, but I just wanted to let you know about it now.”
Did I hear that right!?
“What’s my exact score, then?” I asked.
“Well, here it says…990.”
So, it’s no mistake. Finally, I got a perfect score in TOEIC. 非常高兴!

I’ve never stayed in any other country but Japan. So, I’m proud of the result for my background.

How could I? It could partly be accounted for by the fact that I’ve been keeping English diary here in my blog. And, you know, TOEIC is such a unique and tricky exam. Three days before the exam, therefore, I crammed, actually. Following are those books that I referred to. They were helpful. I recommend them.

TOEIC TEST 実力診断模試
:You can tell your weak points with this. I tried this book, which “diagnosed” me as being weak in Part4 and Part5 of TOEIC, so I browsed (but didn’t buy) some books on TOEIC listening technique at Kinokuniya right before the exam. And it worked!

This Chinese NHK program is a big help for me. Without that program, such a beginner like me had no chance to get started learning Chinese. Eigo-de-shabera-naito (night), which you can view on channel 2 (NHK) right after that Chinese NHK program, is also one of the intersting programs that shed light on a cross-cultural theme. After all, some NHK programs are really educational. I really like them.

NHK, however, has been criticized for its corruption these days, and I think there's no good excuse for them.
I'm such an honest and naive guy that I pay the viewing fee for NHK and I often doubt if I have to pay for that when I hear that not many people pay for it. NHK, don't let us down any more!

↑今天我在关西大学参加汉语考试。(Today I sat for a Chinese Exam at Kansai Univ.
I haven't visited a place like a university premise for a long time. So I got a bit nostalgic feeling.

十点十分考试开始了。(It started at 10:10)

Though the testing time is one hour, I, as well as other candidates in the classroom, finished in half an hour.

写考试很简单。
笔试部分很简单。
(The writing part was a piece of cake.)

听考试 不简单。
听力部分不简单。
(The listening part wasn’t that easy. )

很难有点儿。
有点儿难。
(It was a little difficult!)

我不知道办的成办不成。(I'm not sure whether or not I made it.)
Anyway, it’s over now. The result of the exam is supposed to be informed in a month.

Now, haolan, 谢谢您的关照。我非常非常非常感谢您的帮助。
It was really kind of you to give me a lot of (even enormous) help about my Chinese study.
I don't know how to express my gratitude!

Now, all the enthusiasm of mine shall focus on USCPA exam!
At this moment of time, K.T san, whose everyday activity that has been reported on his blog really inspires me, is now sitting for the USCPA exam in Hawaii. He's almost putting an end to his long journey of USCPA study.

haolan-san and asset-zxd-san provides me with a lot of info about Chinese language.
Thanks a lot!

Following is a feedback of a part of those lecture notes.
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因为yin•wei (1•4): CAUSE-clause
因为S+V•••∶because S+V•••

所以 suo•yi (3•3): RESULT-clause
所以S+V•••∶then, S+V•••

因为明天我打算参加汉语考试,所以今天我在家学习汉语准备考试。
(Since I sit for the Chinese exam tomorrow, I stay home and prepare for the exam today.)

The memo above is modified by me, nn, so that I can deepen my understanding. Therefore, all the possible misstatements, if any, are of my responsibility.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This BECAUSE clause is very important in English grammar because that why-because logical structure is the very base of their conception framework.

And I think it also counts a lot when I learn other foreign languages, including Chinese, because, when I talk to people with different cultural & linguistic backgrounds, we can easily get into a trap of misunderstanding.

So I should always be careful to explain the WHY when I communicate things in a different language.

It was not just another nomikai, but it was rather a kind of job training. I had a lot to learn from what he told me. He didn't put those lessons in such a explicit way like a homily. But I noticed a lot of important things in his words.

So, although I drank like a fish (I was excited anyway, because I met a guy I respect & admire most in my life as a business person!) and intoxicated, I opened my little notebook on the train on my way home, and wrote down what I learned from his words tonight.

先輩、僕も先輩を目標に頑張りますからね！！

( whenever I said a line above, he always says " you do your best! but you can never catch up with me, because I'm also improving myself every minutes. hahaha" mmmmm, I wanna be confident with myself like that someday! )

Today I was planning to buy (今天我打算买) a piece of money order of US$692.00

真贵! (Very Expensive!)

You know, it's, of course, for applying for USCPA exam (考试).

On my way to a post office (邮局), I had a second thought. "It's so expensive. If there's any blind spot in my plan, the loss is huge."

Then I called a personnel dept. of my company if I can take a day off adding to the Golden Week. The answer was negative, which means I have to take all the four subjects during the Golden Week, including the days required for transportation.

Next I called Anjo to ask if the Hawaii test center is open Saturday and Sunday. The staff over the phone said it is closed on Wednesday and Saturday. Besides, many candidates sit for the exam on Golden Week, so it's hard to find a seat during the period, and flight charge is all the more expensive because Golden Week is a hot period for those who enjoy their vacation abroad.

After talking with the dedicated Anjo staff over the cell phone over 17 minutes, I decided to sit for the exam in the early July, when I'm going to take 5 days off. ( In my company, we are entitled to take 5 days off once in a year. Most coworkers use it for their summer vacation, but the personnel dept. says we can take it anytime in a year as long as we don't take it just next to or after a series of vacations like Golden Week!)

The other day I had Anjo confirmed that FACＳ sent my academic evaluation to Delaware states.

And I had Anjo send the transcript of the credits that I earned in Montana State Univ.